St. Paul's gets ER `fast track'

By Laureen McMahon

Finding yourself in a hospital emergency room is traumatic enough without enduring a lengthy wait to be assessed and treated for a potentially serious injury or life-threatening health condition.

Dianne Doyle

Vancouver's St. Paul's Hospital is acting to reduce ER wait times by opening an emergency "fast track" unit designed to improve round-the-clock patient care, said B.C. Health Minister George Abbot at the new unit's Oct. 9 launch.

"Fast tracking frees the main emergency room staff to focus on the most urgent cases," said Abbot, "and it improves patients' access to emergency services overall."

The aim of the new ER unit is to see and assess patients within two hours, said a spokesman.

The facility, which cost $1.2 million to develop, is separate from the main hospital ER, said Providence Health Care president and CEO Dianne Doyle, and was developed as part of a $12.2 million plan to revitalize St. Paul's Hospital's Emergency Department.

"Through $10 million funding from the provincial government and Vancouver Coastal Health along with $2.2 million from St. Paul's Hospital Foundation, we've made design and care improvements that have already resulted in a 22-per-cent reduction to overall emergency wait times."

Six stretcher bays in unit

"Right now at St. Paul's, staff and physicians are treating over 60,000 emergency patients a year," explained ER physician Dr. Lawrence Cheng. "Reducing waiting times will allow us to see more patients. For example, freeing an additional 30 minutes per patient allows us to see another 10,000 emergency patients a year, leading to improved access and care throughout the system."

The unit has six stretcher bays, increased treatment space for IV antibiotics, dedicated rooms for ophthalmology and ear, nose, and throat, and a room for treating infants and children, as well as gynecology rooms for specialized examination and treatment.